Empathy has always been a huge part of who I am as a person. I always try to seek out understanding and compassion when with friends or strangers alike and strive to help them in any way I can. I believe this deep seeded sense of empathy I carry comes from being lost myself. Knowing how low the lows can get, or how mental and physical contstraints affect ones life, makes me want to better understand those around me and aid in their own progress. This has helped me by allowing me to create a better sense of responibility in general as well as a wealth of knowledge when it comes to what people want, need and simply are.
Allowing ourselves to walk a mile in the shoes of the people who'll be using our products opens us up to being better desiners as a whole. By studying users and their behaviors, needs and struggles, all in context, opens up many more channels for opportunities in our product innovation. This use of Empathic Design brings us closer to the actual people we are designing for and strips preconceived notions we might hold while revealing new applications, future mistakes, and enhances our ability to receive info. As a whole empathy helps create better solutions for real world use while humanizing those we are developing for.
Most teams we will be a part of in this industry will be diverse and span cities, time zones or even countries. Empathy helps us to communicate better with each other while circumventing the majority of stressors that comes with this territory. When team members communicate better and respect each other they function better as a group and can over come obsticals/ issues with greater ease. Some forms of empathy that are important to remmeber and put into parctice are:
- Active Listening
- Giving and Receiving Feedback
- Self Awareness
All of these combined will alow an individual to better understand their own strengths, weaknesses, motivations, and feeling as well as those in their team. This knowledge will allow for a seemless working enviornment and great progress as a team.
It has happened more than once when working in a group project at school or at work where I have had a teammate become frusterated when blocked by an issue in the project. Instead of taking offense to a brasher attitude when it arises I try and understand that frustration happens and that it isn't personal. By displaying this empathic knowledge I've been able to, in these instances, talk things through with my teammate and, one, calm them down and, two, lend a hand in helping us both to overcome the snag we've encountered. Accepting and empathizing the fact that the ones you are working with are people just like yourself is beyond helpful in creating the solid relationships needed to be as affective as possible in everything you do.
When do you find it most difficult to be empathetic in professional settings? How can you improve your skills when faced with these scenarios?
The area I struggle with the most when it comes to showcasing empathy in professional settings is when I am recieving constructive critisim. It's not that I believe the one providing it is mad at me, but more that I allow my emotional self to take control and I shut down. It's this aspect of self awareness that I have struggled with in my career and personal life throughout the years. I hope to improve this skill by better understanding and accepting my strengths as well as coming to terms with the fact that struggles and set backs are part of the process. I also plan on working on not taking constructive crtisism so personally, but rather take it in stride and move forward with my team. Finally, I will continue to practice tactics that help keep my emotional self in check, such as realizing my triggers and being okay with asking for help. The hope being that all these combined can and will help reshape this aspect of empathetic self and make me a better coder, teammate and person overall.